our fables tell our truths
by withneedleandthread
Summary: 'when you're truly cared for, there's no purpose for walls' aria/ezra. inspired by ouat.
1. she was raised by wolves

the title and quote in the description comes from birthright (feat. jon foreman) by sleeping at last.

also, there is more of this to come!

* * *

i.

He wishes the dreams would stop.

Not that Ezra is embarrassed by his reoccurring dreams where he's Prince Charming. If that was it, he wouldn't keep it a secret from his fiancee, Jackie. He would've told her about it long ago, they would've laughed, and life would've gone on. But he can't tell her, because she would ask who Snow White was, and while he's not the worst liar in the world, he has no idea what he would say to her.

The right answer would be that she was Snow White, but it's not the true answer.

It would be simpler if Snow White was an ex, or some famous actress - then it could be some form of cold feet that he'd just have to get over - but simplicity and his life have never really been related concepts.

The 'Snow White' figure of his reoccurring dreams is Aria Montgomery, one of the students he teaches in high school, a fact that makes Ezra hate himself more than a little.

Deep down, he feels like this is something important, that it's more than just a bunch of weird dreams - he feels so much happier with her in the dreams than he ever really has with Jackie, but that's just crazy and worrisome and he's pretty sure that the next step after following that is having a Law and Order: SVU episode based on you, so he ignores it.

ii.

She knows it's just a stupid school girl crush. A meaningless, naive, stupid schoolgirl. For one thing, Mr. Fitz is engaged.

Also, he's her teacher.

(She doesn't list the reasons in that order for any reason in particular, of course.)

Aria repeats those things to herself all the time, reminding herself that it's just a crush, because if she doesn't, then the idea gets caught up in her brain, and she starts over thinking it.

It would be _so_ much easier to just push the crush out of her mind, and move on. She could date Holden or Noel or _any guy who was her age and single_. And she would. . .if it wasn't for the dreams.

The ones where she's Snow White and Mr. Fitz is Prince Charming.

It sounds so much cheesier than it really is - the dreams are an ongoing, complex story with twists and turns. More than once she's woken up in tears because of it.

Once Aria tried to talk about it with her friends, but the good-natured teasing from them reminded her about how ridiculous it sounded, so she decided to keep it to herself. (It took forever for Hanna to drop it - she had to endure months of being called 'Snow White'.)

Anyways, other people have had crushes on teachers without it being a big deal, so why worry?

iii.

Every once in a while, Ezra accidentally makes eye contact with Aria and ends up feeling really uncomfortable. The dreams immediately come to mind - especially the fact that they're pretty much each other's 'one true love' in them. He looks away right away, of course, hoping that didn't look weird or creepy.

(It did, of course, because Aria seems to avoid talking to him, and when she has to she seems really uncomfortable - but that could just be him.)

iv.

Her dad had an affair and her mom kicked him out and her family is falling apart and Aria is in near tears the entire day, trying not to seem so devastated. She already talked with Spencer and Hanna and Emily about it, but even though it feels good to know that they're all willing to let her stay over, she still feels devastated.

And she's apparently not paying attention as she walks out of the school, bumping into someone.

"Sorry - " She immediately says, freezing when she realizes it's Mr. Fitz.

For a moment he looks at her with such a look of shock, she wonders if she somehow injured him, only for him to recover, his expression growing concerned.

"Are you okay?" He asks.

People have been asking her that all day, and so far, she's been doing a great job at hiding how she really feels, assuring them that she's okay - but for some reason, from him it's different. It cuts her deep, catching her false reassurances in her throat for a moment before she bursts into tears and blurts out, "My dad had an affair."

"I. . .I'm so sorry." Mr. Fitz replies, placing a hand on her shoulder. They're both quiet for a moment before he adds, "Do - do you want to talk about it over coffee?"

"Sure." Aria replies without thinking.

v.

This was a stupid idea. Someone is going to see them and assume the worst and he's going to lose his job and his reputation and his fiancee and -

Ezra shakes his head, clearing his mind from the worries that seemed to explode in it. Taking a sip of his coffee, he looks at Aria, who so far hasn't said anything.

She sits at the other side of the small table, stirring her coffee with one of those wooden coffee stirrer things. He wants to say something to end the awkward silence, but at the same time he knows that he can't force her to talk about it. With nothing to talk about, he gets distracted looking at her. Despite the fact that she's not as dressed up as she usually is - her hair is in a simple ponytail, for one thing - she still looks beautiful.

Of course, then he realizes what he just thought and tears his eyes away, drinking more coffee and wishing he had an 'erase' button on his brain.

Aria suddenly sniffles, though, so he has to look at her, and after opening her mouth a few times only to close it, she finally speaks, "I just. . .I can't believe he did that - to my mom, to us. . ."

She talks for some amount of time - maybe an hour, maybe two or three, he's not sure - and he just listens. It's not particularly thoughtful, he mostly just has no idea what to see, but by the end she smiles at him with tears in her eyes and says, "Thanks for listening, Mr. Fitz."

"Ezra." He corrects without thinking, adding quickly, "I mean - you can call me that, since we're not in school and all."

He has a near heart attack, inwardly kicking himself for even saying that when she says, "Okay. Thanks. . .Ezra."

Then they're walking out, and again, without thinking he says, "If you ever need to talk with someone, I'm here. We can get coffee again."

She smiles, "Thanks. . .I might have to take you up on that."

They go their separate ways, and he tries not to think about how that sounds like a date.

vi.

Dad came home, hoping to convince mom to let him come back - which of course only led to a screaming argument. Aria slips out of the house quietly. She walks to the coffee shop, mostly looking down at the group. Someone holds open the door for her, and just as she's about to walk in a familiar voice says, "Aria?"

And there's Mr. F - Ezra.

"What's wrong."

She bites her lip, trying to hold herself together as she answers, "My dad - he came home to try and talk to mom, and they - um. ended up shouting. I decided to go get some coffee."

He nods, with a look of compassion on his face, "Do you. . .want to talk about it over coffee?"

Aria stifles a sob, nodding, "Yeah."

She gets some coffee, and this time they walk in the park. This time, she doesn't talk as much, but only because last time was like opening a dam - it was the first time, really, that she'd been able to just talk about how she fault about the whole mess.

After walking in silence for a while, she can't help but to think about how kind and understanding he's been, and she turns to look at him, "Thanks - again. For listening."

vii. "No pro - "

Aria suddenly give him a hug, and he freezes in place, too stunned to react. Then he lightly hugs her back, continuing as if he never stopped talking in the first place, "No problem."

Holding her feels right. It shouldn't, but it does. It feels like he's in one of those dreams where he's Prince Charming, and, for a moment, he's happy to just hold her. The instant she starts to pull away he lets go, and then they're standing way too close and he wants to kiss her, just like in those dreams -

_Oh god._

"I - uh. Need to go correct some tests." He says abruptly, blurting out the first excuse to get out of there he can. She nods, understanding, and says goodbye. He walks away and fails completely and not thinking about how good it felt to hold her.


	2. in the warmth of their fur

viii.

"I'm never talking to him again." Mike suddenly says, and Aria winces,

She had a feeling that this moment would come, the moment when she had to be the mature older sibling and remind her younger sibling that regardless of what their father did, he's still their dad, and they still are family. She's been dreading this moment, this conversation, and now that she hasn't spent any time thinking about it, she's completely unprepared.

"You don't mean that, Mike. Dad made a mistake, but he's still family. You still love him."

Mike looks her straight in the eyes, and asks, "Are you saying that because you really think that, or because you think you have to say that?"

Aria's silence is answer enough.

ix.

Ezra sighs as he marks another problem wrong on the quiz.

"What's wrong?" Jackie asks.

"Oh, there's a student of mine who's having some. . .family issues. She normally does very well, but with the problems at home. . .her grades have been slipping."

Sitting down next to him, Jackie seems to think over what he said for a few seconds, "You're talking about the Montgomery family, right?"

He freezes up, and she starts talking about the different rumors she's heard about exactly what happened, which is fortunate because he has a few moments to pull himself together and attempt to keep himself from freaking out at his fiancee mentioning the family of the student he keeps dreaming about.

. . .sometimes he realizes how much of a creep he probably is, and he wonders if everything in his life is leading up to a nervous breakdown and a nationwide scandal.

(The real question is who would they cast to play him in the Lifetime movie based on the incident.)

x.

Aria is up and halfway through getting ready for school, when it suddenly hits her that she hasn't had one of those fairy tale dreams in a long time - nearly a week, actually. There'd never quite been a set timetable for when they happened (or, really, she hadn't taken the time to figure out if there was one) but it was often enough that a week without the dreams was strange.

Did it mean something? She had spent time around Ezra those two different times - had the dreams stopped because (maybe) because of that?

Then Mike suddenly yells something about being late, and she figures she'll think about it more later as she finishes getting ready and rushes out the door.

xi.

It's the end of the day, and he's tired, so Ezra pulls together his stuff as quickly as he can, planning on heading home.

But as he steps out of the school, he notices that Aria is still there - not just Aria, but her brother, too.

After staring for a moment, and considering whether or not it would be a good idea to step in, he finally walks over.

"What are you two still doing here?"

Aria sighs, "Mom was supposed to give us a ride home, but. . .I think she forgot."

Ezra frowns and looks over at Mike, who has a look of controlled rage on his face. He can't imagine how angry he is, with all the stuff that's going on. Frankly, the rage and anger he's seen in Mike ever since the situation with his parents blew up makes him worry.

"I. . .could give you two a ride home?"

They both turn to look at him when he says that, surprised looks on their faces.

"Really? Mike asks.

"Sure." He shrugs, trying to play it cool, "I mean - I can't just leave you two waiting in the parking lot, right? That wouldn't be very responsible."

xii.

The car ride is much less awkward than she thought it would be - Mike and Mr. Fitz talk a lot, and she occasionally would say something, though only just enough to not be the only person not talking. The stuff they talk about isn't anything particularly deep or thought provoking - it's all about some action movie that came out a few months before - but she can tell that Mike enjoys the conversation.

He pulls up at their house, and Mike has to do some homework ("Really?" Mr. Fitz asks. "Nah." Mike answers, "A computer game, but I figured since you're a teacher and all I shouldn't say that.") so he heads in the house, leaving her and Mr. Fitz standing outside the house.

After a silence which goes on just a little too long, he speaks.

"So, uh. How's. . .everything?"

"It's - better. Kind of." After pausing for a moment, considering whether or not she should say what she's thinking, she says, "I'm still mad at my dad. I - I don't want to be. I can't be - because Mike hates him right now and I can't agree with him, but after what he did -"

"It's okay to be angry at him." He says.

"But - "

"It's not your job." He places a hand on her should and continues, "Yes, you need to look out for your brother, but you should lie about your own thoughts and feelings while trying to do that. I'm pretty sure he'll see right through that, anyways."

Aria nods, "Yeah. . ."

Another pause goes by, when he suddenly blurts out, "If you're having trouble with school, I can help you." Her staring response seems to make him panic, "I mean - it's just - I noticed that you haven't been doing that well on stuff lately and I figured - "

"That would be great, Mr. Fitz." She smiles, grateful for the offered help.

"Hey, we're out of school." He smiles back, "It's Ezra."

"Fine. Thanks, _Ezra_."

They talk for a little longer before she heads into the house.

She passes by Mike, who suddenly turns to her.

"Mr. Fitz is pretty cool." He says, with the closest thing to a smile that she's seen in a while.

"He _is_ pretty awesome."


End file.
